


Temptations

by EtchCantrellorLightningHeterodyne



Category: The Order of the Stick
Genre: Gen, i cried
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-27
Updated: 2019-03-27
Packaged: 2019-12-25 09:58:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,420
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18258986
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EtchCantrellorLightningHeterodyne/pseuds/EtchCantrellorLightningHeterodyne
Summary: Every promise Soon's ever broken, and the only one he regretted keeping.





	Temptations

The first time Soon breaks a promise, it's to Kraagor. He wasn't supposed to go after the barbarian- hell, he'd promised the dwarf he  _wouldn't_ do just that, but... it's a dragon. An ancient red dragon, with a spell arsenal that puts all three of the party's magic users to shame, and a jail where it keeps it's food. He's standing  _right outside Kraagor's cell_ , and all the paladin needs to do is just push the door open-

_I promised him I wouldn't. A paladin keeps to his word._

_The dragon is going to_ kill him _._

"Twelve gods, if you're listening, know that I'm doing this because fuck if the rules of my alignment sentence my friend to death."

Soon shoves his shoulder into the door, and a nat 20 Strength check has the thing falling off it's hinges. The rest of the Order is free and clear, waiting outside for Soon and Kraagor- splitting the party was never a good idea, but they'd all been fresh out of good ideas on how to get the townspeople out- and if he doesn't come back with the barbarian, Girard will give him such unrelenting crap about it that he'd wind up breaking his own code and murdering the redhead anyway (because if anybody  _could_ get him to do that, Soon would actually bet money that it would wind up being Girard).

Kraagor huffs, glares, and breaks the chains holding him to the wall once Soon tosses the barbarian his battleaxe.

"I thought paladins  _couldn't_ break their promises."

"Me too. Looks like we're both wrong."

\------

The second time Soon breaks a promise, it's to Serini- he told her that for once he wouldn't return whatever possessions she'd gotten off whatever poor NPC pissed her off that day, and yes, he'd known he was lying through his teeth when he said it- Girard probably did too (Kraagor was out, Lirian and Dorukan were making out on the couch, and Girard had looked bored enough to actually be listening to Soon for once in his life)- but Serini had bought it, and so when Soon was awoken by a very angry rogue beating the living hell out of a very surprised illusionist, he'd simply pulled the two apart and forced Lirian and Dorukan to sleep in different rooms for the first time since they'd gotten together. Dorukan and Girard were indifferent enough to each other that nothing would happen, and Lirian was the only person with a not-a-sleep-cycle that could survive how long it took Serini to wind down.

The paladin woke up the next morning to find all of his possessions spelled neon green. 

\-----

The third time Soon breaks a promise, it's actually to Dorukan, and it's only because he doesn't trust the party wizard to tell the truth about whether or not he's in possession of a book of very illegal Necromancy spells.

Dorukan forgives him on the spot when Soon doesn't find anything in his spellbook. 

"You have your magical compulsions, I've got mine. And Girard bet me twenty gold that if you went through my spellbook I wouldn't be able to resist the urge to turn you to ash."

Dorukan gets put in charge of party finances when Serini comes back with a second bag of holding that only Soon has a Spot check good enough to see.

\----

The fourth time Soon breaks a promise, it's to Lirian, and they both feel awful about it. He couldn't let the monster live, and Lirian couldn't kill the guardian of the local forest, however evil it may be.

But it's taking people and it's not giving them back, and Soon can't let the thing go and Lirian knows it, but they have the conversation anyway.

"Can you just... rescue the villagers and let it off with a warning?"

"It registers as evil, Lirian, you  _know_ I can't-"

"Just once?"

She looks so utterly desperate that Soon promises her he won't. He knows he's going to anyway, and he thought she did too, but...

Soon kills the monster and send the hostages home. Lirian spends the next three weeks not speaking to him. The other four keep glaring at him for the next two.

Soon winds up using Lay on Hands in the next month a lot more on himself than he'd like.

\---

The fifth time Soon breaks a promise, it's to himself. He wasn't going to put anyone above the greater good. Not after Mijung- she was the only one.

And then he sees Dorukan wrap an arm around Lirian's waist, and Serini hop onto the druid's lap as Lirian starts to laugh, because Kraagor tripped Girard as the illusionist was walking down the stairs.

Lirian, Serini, and Dorukan share the couch. Kraagor leans on Dorukan's legs. Girard sits in front of the four of them, using his cantrips to accompany him as he tells the party another story he'd heard on the roads of the Western Continent, before he'd tried to con Soon into bailing him out of jail.

Girard tells his tale. Dorukan pokes holes in the logic of it, Lirian asks about the mystical plant which the plot revolves around, Kraagor nitpicks the fighting style of the main character, and Serini says 'I wish I could steal that' every time something shiny appears.

Soon watches from the shadows of the back of the room, and that's when it occurs to him: he'd do anything for these people.

He'd break oaths, and spare evil, and kill good if that was what he had to do to see them safe and happy and alright.

The paladin's shoulders slump, and bites his lip and blinks back tears, because Mijung was supposed to be the only one and he'd somehow managed to love his party as much as he loved her.

None of the other five notice him- Girard is busy casting spells and telling a story at the same time, and everyone else is making it harder for him.

Soon stays there until the five of them leave anyway. He was never one to miss the meetups they thought he didn't know about- no, he wasn't invited, but the paladin could never resist the chance to see their smiles.

\--

The last time he breaks a promise, it's to Girard. It was the first promise he'd ever given the illusionist- the promise that he'd keep the party safe for as long as he led them.

Kraagor is gone, and the horror in Girard's eyes makes the weight of Soon's sins heavier than he thought possible. 

The paladin wishes he could say something-  _anything_ \- but no amount of Charisma will possibly change the fact that everything Kraagor is is  _gone_.

Soon stays staring at Kraagor's grave long after everyone else is gone.

_What happened to doing anything for them? To sparing evil and destroying good-_

_Well. I got the destroying good part down._

A blue-cloaked figure falls to it's knees before a statue of a dwarf. It stays there for a very long time.

-

The only promise Soon regrets keeping is the one he made to Serini. 

He writes letters and rips them to shreds. Girard doesn't want to hear from him- not after what he's done. Lirian has Dourkan and Dorukan has Lirian; they've never needed him before. They don't need him now.

Serini...

Serini deserves better. They all did. Soon was supposed to protect them, he was supposed to keep them safe and alright and happy, and he  _failed_.

He makes a choice anyway. The Sapphire Guard has grown. Ronjo has completed his training.

Soon passes leadership of the Sapphire Guard onto his only apprentice, and he boards a ship to the Western Continent. He has to start somewhere. If he can fix things with Girard, he can fix things with the rest of them.

The ship doesn't even make it halfway there before the storm hits.

The Order had always said Soon's element was water.

Lifeboats are filled. Every passenger on the ship makes it back to one shore or another unharmed, except one.

Soon's element is water. The gods will only let him break so many promises.

A brief and odd thought of Mijung and Kraagor having tea with the Snarl crosses his mind.

Paladins keep their promises. No matter what. Lirian told him once he was the only person she'd ever met who looked decent with wet hair.

Girard had told him his element was water.

Soon never breaks his last promise. He drowns before he gets the chance.

 


End file.
